This recipe for asparagus-rice soup with sausage yields a flavorful spring soup that’s light and fresh, but still hearty enough for a meal. Here’s a simple, everyday soup you can make in under 45 minutes that’s light and fresh for spring but still hearty enough for a meal. Here’s how to make Asparagus-Rice Soup with […]
This recipe for asparagus-rice soup with sausage yields a flavorful spring soup that’s light and fresh, but still hearty enough for a meal.
Here’s a simple, everyday soup you can make in under 45 minutes that’s light and fresh for spring but still hearty enough for a meal.Asparagus-Rice Soup with Sausage Photo Credit : Amy Traverso
Here’s how to make Asparagus-Rice Soup with Sausage in step-by-step photos. Just want the recipe? Head on over to the Asparagus-Rice Soup with Sausage recipe.
The method is very simple, like most soups: sweating onions or other aromatics, adding meat and other longer-cooking items, then adding the broth and simmering the mixture. At the end, add the quick-cooking starches and delicate vegetables.
This one begins a bit differently with sweet Italian sausage cooked in a bit of vegetable oil until it’s no longer pink but not yet browned. The sausage will release a bit of fat, which makes a good medium for cooking the onion.
You’ll continue browning the meat with the onions. Photo Credit : Amy Traverso
Add a diced medium onion and cook until translucent, another 6 minutes or so. Then add a couple of medium Yukon Gold potatoes cut into 1/2-inch chunks. Let this all cook until the sausage is brown and you have a nice fond (a brown crust) on the bottom of the pot.
Sausage, potatoes, onions. Notice the browned bits forming on the pot. That’s where much of the flavor will develop. Photo Credit : Amy Traverso
Now you can add chicken stock and a couple of bay leaves. You’ll add more stock than you think you need (2 1/2 quarts) because next you add the rice, which will absorb some of this liquid. I like to use Arborio rice (the type used in risotto) because the grain is thicker and has a more substantial texture. Cook for 15 minutes. By this time, the potatoes will also be tender. Lastly, add the asparagus and cook for just 5 minutes or so, until crisp-tender.
Almost done, but don’t forget the toppings! Photo Credit : Amy Traverso
Add salt and pepper to taste. At this point, you’ll have a perfectly pleasant, but rather bland soup. The magic comes in the garnishes. Divide the soup into bowls and sprinkle generously with freshly grated Parmesan and a bit of freshly grated lemon zest. Now you have some interesting flavor!
Asparagus-Rice Soup with Sausage Photo Credit : Amy Traverso
It’s simple, humble, tasty food. Serve with a loaf of French bread, a salad, and you have a meal.
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Amy Traverso
Amy Traverso is the senior food editor at Yankee magazine and co-host of the public television series Weekends with Yankee, a coproduction with WGBH. Previously, she was food editor at Boston magazine and an associate food editor at Sunset magazine. Her work has also been published in The Boston Globe, Saveur, and Travel & Leisure, and she has appeared on Hallmark Home & Family, The Martha Stewart Show, Throwdown with Bobby Flay, and Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. Amy is the author of The Apple Lover’s Cookbook, which was a finalist for the Julia Child Award for best first-time author and won an IACP Cookbook Award in the “American” category.
